Can someone explain "Chicken Math" to me?

[stilldeb]

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The possibilities are endless. It's like the black hole of chickendom. Seriously, you would need Steven Hawking to figure out how many chickens you could put in all those empty places.

GET SOME BIRDS, QUICK!

 

[stilldeb]

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Everytime we drive by Lowe's I say, "Look at all those big chicken coops in the parking lot!" Good luck and let's see when you are done. No telling how many chickens you can get in that shed.

 

[blessedchick]

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This is HILARIOUS!! I just hatched out my first ever chicklets (4) with plans of keeping them in the house till I can have a coop built in early spring. I started with plans for an 8x8 coop to attach to an existing, chicken fortified, 10x10 dog run. That was in December. 2 weeks ago I bumped up the size a bit and started to dream about a tad larger coop (8x10ish) with a chicken tractor as another means for the chicklets to get fresh greens - in addition to the dog run, of course. Now I'm up to a full 12x12 walk in coop with an area for quail (when am I getting those?), a 12x24 run divided for some Polish bantams (where will THEY come from?) and the dog run as an "extra" run area for pullets...which will, of course, need their OWN coop, about 4x4...but wait, what about room for a brooder? 8x8. Spring better get here FAST!

Update...just put 24 silkie/showgirl eggs in the bator...I'm on my way!!

 

[Delmar]

For me "chicken math" has everything to do with the fact that chickens go broody when I had no intention of hatching more chicks.

 

[MuranoFarms]

Regular Chicken math worked great for me till I got to the big numbers! Someone asked me...if front of hubby...how many chickens I had and I said "I guess about 80" His jaw hits the floor and I explain I counted all the chicks/keets for sale. (he knows I really do sell almost every keet I hatch..he also bought my last 2 cabinet bators) He was ok with it! Hmmmmmm, I'm on to something here! Lol Ever since then, no matter how many adults I add to the flock I always reply "I guess about 80"

I never count them! If I don't know for sure, then I'm not lying!

 

[BlossomSilkies]

Chicken math for me meant "Honey build me a coop, I only want 3 hens and a rooster" I now have 2 coops, 2 roosters, and 15 hens in less than a year. Good thing he didn't listen to me when he built the coop and run and made it big enough to handle my chicken math.

 

[mamaKate]

Well, I've always considered myself math challenged but it seems I'm actually GOOD at chicken math. I bought two feed store chicks for laying hens expecting to build a small A frame. One of them was a roo so he didn't count.The negative roo was too rough on his hen so I bought 2 sale barn pullets to share the love. With a flock of 2 I saw a single guinea banging his lonely head and screaming so I got him and a slightly older EE to be his nanny. Involuntary=-2. I added two beautiful D'uccles and using the formula (2bantams =1 lf) that brings me up to 1. Gracious breeder offered surprise bantam Brahma, -1/2. Over winter I lost the two 2 yr old sale barn hens from complications of the respiratory infection they had when I bought them. So let's see 1-1/2 = 1/2.
1/2-2 = -1 1/2. Then my precious D'Uccle had heat issues and repeated illnesses and finally died.-1 1/2-1/2=-2. So, since the city allows me 10 birds, I have to convince them to let me add 12 chicks this spring, right?

 

[Nitrous]

I forgot. Chickens you did not intend to buy do not count.

That's one of the FIRST rules!

 

[LegginMF12]

I have 3 adult hens and 1 adult roo = 4, but roos don't really count in chicken math so I have 3 chickens. I have 9 chicks in the shed, but after checking 4 (maybe 2 more) are roos. Remember roo AND chicks don't count so I still only have 3 chickens. I gave 4 eggs to a fellow BYC'er and will be getting those chicks in a week, but chicks don't count, so I have 3 chickens. I am awaiting delivery of 24 eggs for my incubator. Eggs don't count because we all know that we don't count our chickens before they hatch. So I STILL only have 3 chickens.

Chicken rationalization- cleaning up poop after one chicken is a chore, one blob here, one blob there. But if you have a lot of chickens it tends to pile up. Much easier to pick up a pile than one little blob. More chickens = better bug control. Chickens naturally live in FLOCKS. Nobody knows exactly how many chickens equal a FLOCK. The number a flock equals is one of life's great mysteries, kinda like the pyramids. It is better to keep adding chickens in the hopes that someday a human will hit the magical number that equals a FLOCK.

 

[Nitrous]

Another excellent point I forgot. You don't count your eggs until they hatch. And sometimes not even then